Deadlock

A deadly disease characterised by lockjaw, tetanus is fatal in the majority of cases. Karen Coumbe MRCVS explains how a vaccine protects your horse

- Karen Coumbe

TETANUS is not a new disease. Despite being well understood and easily preventable, it continues to pose a threat to the 21st-century population –human and equine alike. Correct and preventative management is no mystery, and owners who implement effective immunisation and reduce the risk with good wound care guard against infection. Despite this, vets still are presented with the disease and each unvaccinated case is a tragedy.

The challenge with preventative medicine in general, and tetanus in particular, is that many horse owners have never witnessed a case and forget that it is a significant risk. The reality of tetanus is a dreadful disease – it is commonly known as lockjaw due to the mouth clamping shut in the later stages, so the poor animal cannot eat or drink. The survival rate is extremely low – even with modern medicine, more than two-thirds of clinical cases of tetanus do not survive.

WHAT IS TETANUS?

TETANUS is caused by toxins that attack the horse’s nervous system. They are released by the causative bacterial infection, known as Clostridium tetani. Spores from these bacteria are widespread and can be found in dust, manure and soil.

If these spores enter a wound with suitable conditions, including damaged tissue and an anaerobic environment (one that lacks oxygen), they will germinate into bacteria, releasing at least three types of deadly toxin to cause tetanus.

Once a tetanus infection takes hold, the deadly toxins migrate along the peripheral nerves to the brain, affecting the nervous system to cause this distressing disease.